It's Time
by RunawayBurleigh
Summary: Love swallowed him whole, her endless beauty and impulsiveness overpowering him. One-Shot in honor of Nat'l Newsies Day.


Dusk rested slowly on the still-crowded city, creating shadows in streets, vendors beginning to pack up for the day. A young couple walked quickly through the streets, laughing and talking animatedly. The light from the setting sun blinded them, a rush of brilliance and color in one-second doses, and they gulped it down, making their bodies glow as they ingested the purity. Laura Revits watched the sun behind a mask of clouds, stopping her companion immediately in the middle of the dusty road. If he were not used to this type of suddenness, Jack Kelly would have tripped over her, for she was not short but still not yet as tall as he. He was thinking of something else, of dreams and what it took to fulfill them.

"Jack, look," she pointed towards the sky. He paused to grin at her before looking up and removing his black, soft cowboy hat. Sighing, Laura ducked a stray piece of vibrant auburn hair behind her ear. 

"Beautiful, ain't it?" He asked her. Clouds moved in front of the sun, thin and wispy, so that the outline of the sun was clearly visible only a few feet above the horizon. The sky was thick with watercolor hues of blue, red, purple, orange, and gold, igniting their hearts to rise and fly. Jack looked down at Laura, a few strands of his brown hair falling in his light brown eyes. She shook her head slowly in disagreement, still staring at the spanse above her.

"Gorgeous," she countered softly. Slowly his hand shifted and moved into hers, his thumb rubbing her knuckle gently. Soft green immediately came into his view, the only thing he could see. He could drown himself in her eyes and her red hair, existing only as a flyaway strand or a radius of pigment. She grinned at him slyly and broke into a dead sprint through the bustle, not for a race but simply to do so, taking on whatever she wanted to do. Knowing full well that it wasn't a race, Jack laughed aloud and tore after her, also breaking through the thick wall of unhappy crowd. 

The two were making their way home from the factory where Laura worked as a seamstress every day. She didn't like it when Jack waited every single day because it made her feel caged, so once or twice a week, he would stand outside the cold, stale building and sell his newspapers, waiting for her. He trailed behind her but came at a dead stop at a small building on Duane Street. And there she was, grinning and breathless, her cheeks flushed with color, standing in the open doorway of the Duane Street lodging house.

The blustery air sipped easily through their lungs, infusing them with a breathless chill. Jack smiled. "I love you," he commented lightly, kissing her hair. She twisted away from him and laughed. 

"How do you know?" She rested her head against the building and smiled up at him. He sighed dramatically and stared out at the setting sun, both of them knowing that he was being silly.

"It's da way da sun sets in yer eyes," he responded. "I can see it from heah. An' da way da light hits yer face from da lanterns at night."

"But of course, dose is only physical things, Jack." She fluttered her eyelashes and laughed at herself. "Don't ya love me fer my mind?" He stared at her.

"Yer mind? What da hell can I do wit' dat?" After promptly sticking her tongue out at him, she disappeared into the lodging house, navigating through it as if it were her own home. Chuckling, he started in after her, finally discovering her on the roof, tucking her jacket more tightly around her. Again Jack reverted to his earlier thoughts. He really did love her. If only she could understand that she was his silent heartbreak, that he would balance the entire universe on a sliver of that crescent moon for her, that he wanted to give her everything, the entire world.

And somehow, he would find a way to give her everything he possibly could. He tucked his hand into his right pocket and felt it there, both comforting and nerve-racking. Turning to see him, she smiled softly and walked towards him, leaning in to kiss him briefly but lovingly. His hands rested on her waist lightly, and she pulled her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder for a moment. That was what he lived for, those brief but real moments when she was there and all he could see was her, swirling in a mixture of bluebirds and early mornings, a million hearts leaping off of a million buildings, water rushing through air ravenously in search of the truth. Their hearts beat one in the same for a moment, aligning with their minds and souls, the power reverberating through their bodies. 

"I do believe I love ya too, Mistah Kelly," she whispered, in reference to his earlier comments. It was time. Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple silver hoop, his mother's from long ago. Before, he wasn't sure if it would be right, perhaps a sign of his parents' own doomed love, if one could even call it that, but now he knew that it was right. It was meant just for her. On bended knee, Jack Kelly took Laura Revits's left hand into his two, caressing them gently as if they were porcelain.

"It's good ya feel dat way, Miss Revits. 'Cause I wanted at know if ya wanted at be mine. Laura Revits, I love you." They both held their breath for a moment. "Will you marry me?"

Laura stared at him with a rush of green, the wind blowing strands of her hair, that hair he could drown in, into her face. Green met brown with such ferocity and passion. Their two souls ran through the sky, hearts light on celestial breath.

---  
Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies. I own Laura, though. :-)

Written in honor of National Newsies Day. 


End file.
